


Breathe

by Chikabow



Category: League of Legends RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Office, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 07:37:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6461542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chikabow/pseuds/Chikabow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Junggyun should take a moment to breathe, to focus on himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breathe

 It was a cloudy rainy day in Seoul. The incessant traffic and the impersonal influx of people, instinctively walking to their jobs was tiring. All of this unfriendly noise made Junggyun wish he was back in his village in the Gyeongsangbuk-do province, far away from Seoul. His hometown was a remote village near a big forest. Life was slow, and the people happily chatting in the little market, or the typical birds singing their morning tunes were the sounds he missed the most. The constant commotion of the big metropolis was too much.

 

 He had moved to Seoul to have a chance to study at a good university. He was the first of his family to be able to have a shot at higher education. While he was finishing his course he was contacted by some firm and got offered an internship and consequently a job. He took it immediately after graduating. It was a way for him to try and repay for his parents efforts and sacrifices. He didn’t want to go back home empty handed.

 

He entered the usual coffee shop clearing his mind from all of the city problems troubling him, to cherish his refuge. The beautiful plants hanging from the ceiling, contrasting with the welcoming and relaxing orange walls, were something that he liked about this place. Nowadays plants weren’t very common in the Gangnam district. 

 

“Good morning!” A familiar voice called out. “You look even worse than usual.” Gyeonghwan giggled playfully. 

 

“You know how Monday mornings go, make it extra strong please.” Junggyun requested trying to give Gyeonghwan his best smile.

Gyeonghwan had been working at that coffee shop since Junggyun started this job, and he was on the last year of his economics course. He has always been here, every morning, with his welcoming smile. The way he smiled was truly otherworldly. The curved his lips… Junggyun had fallen for it long ago. The manner in which his auburn hair fell delicately onto his face and how it rustled when Gyeonghwan moved.  It left Junggyun a little uneasy. Why a grown man like Junggyun was anxious around a younger coffee shop employee was beyond his comprehension.

 

“Here it is!” Gyeonghwan chimed and handed a little box with a cup of Junggyun’s fuel for the morning inside, keeping his joyful posture.  

 

“Thank you so much. I hope you have a nice day.”

 

 Junggyun left the coffee shop to enter the next building.

 

“I hope I do…” Gyeonghwan sighed with a hint of expectation in his voice.

 

Junggyun pressed the button to call the elevator and the coworker he shared his office with approached him.

 

“Hey. Good morning.” She cheered raising her cup of coffee.

 

“Hello Hyojung, I see you still prefer to submit yourself to the worst coffee around.”  Junggyun joked. They had been arguing about which coffee was better in the block for quite some time.

 

“At least mine doesn’t taste like water.” She shot back. They kept going back and forth with whichever faults they could find in each other’s coffee until they arrived at their shared work space. Junggyun opened his carefully closed box and took the cup out, making a little piece of yellow paper fall to the ground. The letters were drawn with care: _I was wondering if you could come by again today. I have something to tell you. Have a nice day at work._ _Gyeonghwan_  

What could Gyeonghwan possibly want from Junggyun? _Could it be…? No. Why would he._ Junggyun thought to himself. _Maybe I forgot something there. No. That doesn’t make sense, he would’ve told me._

 

He could solve the mystery once he finished his morning work load and went there to grab a quick snack.

 

After what felt like nothing Hyojung got up from her desk and the sudden movement made Junggyun look at his watch. It read half past one. Junggyun had really lost track of time.

 

“I’m going to get something to eat.” Hyojung announced.

 

“Wait.” Junggyun requested. “I’ll ride down with you.”

 

They descended in the elevator until the first floor and passed their employee cards in a magnet reader opening the small gate. They went their separate ways, each into their café of choice. Luckily for Junggyun, his was just next door. He headed to the counter, and a small girl welcomed him asking what he wanted to order.

 

“A slice of that cake please.” Junggyun said pointing to the cake in display. “Sorry, but do you know where Gyeonghwan is?”  Junggyun inquired.

 

“H-He’s in classes now. His shift starts again at 5.” She said a little confused at the seemingly random question.

 

“Thank you.” Junggyun responded exchanging the money for the piece of cake. He made his way back to the office and dived back into his dull work. Hours went by unnoticed, Hyojung had come back and Junggyun hadn’t noticed. Only when she was about to leave and talked directly to him did he notice her presence.

 

“Don’t stay here all night. I don’t want to be welcomed by a sleeping masochist again tomorrow morning when I arrive. Go home and sleep in a actual bed.” Hyojung ranted preoccupied. Junggyun just nodded acknowledging the speech for what felt the millionth time and yet, he was thankful for Hyojung’s worrying.

 

Back at the coffee shop, Gyeonghwan was ending his shift and his coworker told him about the man that had asked for him at lunch time. Gyeonghwan took off his apron and stored it in his locker in the employee room. Junggyun actually went to see him even though Gyeonghwan wasn’t there. Maybe he could say whatever he had to say tomorrow. Maybe it was for the best, as Gyeonghwan wasn’t really sure of what he wanted to say to Junggyun.

 

He took what would be his dinner and left the coffee shop. He recognized the woman leaving the next building. She used to come to the café with Junggyun sometimes. Gyeonghwan raced over tapping on her shoulder. She turned around startled but before she could say anything Gyeonghwan asked:

 

“Is Junggyun still in there?”

 

“He is. You’re his friend from the coffee shop right? Convince him to go home. He’s in office 4312.” She gave what felt like an order. She wanted Gyeonghwan to take the apparently very difficult mission of persuading Junggyun to go home.

 

Gyeonghwan entered the building and asked the elderly guard to let him in, claiming to Junggyun’s friend. The elevator journey to the 43rd  floor was a quite long one, but it wasn’t enough time to think of the reason he would give Junggyun for showing up at his office at such a late hour. It’s not like they were best friends who could come over any time. Not at all. The elevator rang and opened the doors revealing a poorly lit hallway. Most of the lights were out due to the late hour. He stood at the door of the 12th office. Next to it there was a sign where it read “Kim Hyojung/Kim Junggyun”

 

Gyeonghwan knocked lightly, afraid of interrupting important work, getting a faint “come in” as an answer. Gyeonghwan opened the door to see the hardworking Junggyun not working that hard, he was half asleep.

 

Junggyun was caught by surprise. He tried to fix his appearance, afraid of looking too much of a mess after spending all day without checking the mirror once. He got up going around the desk facing Gyeonghwan.  

 

“Oh I’m so sorry. I went by during lunch but you weren’t there your coworker said you were at the university and I completely forgot I’ve been working since 2 in the afternoon and I’m-” Gyeonghwan cut off the seemingly ceaseless words and put a hand on Junggyun’s shoulder.

 

“Stop apologizing. It’s my fault for asking you on such short notice really. I also should’ve told you that I wouldn’t be there at lunch time.”

 

“I’m sorry, I was just finishing something. Could you wait five minutes?” Junggyun asked backtracking to his desk, still a little ashamed of his current image and how he had just acted.

 

"Ok.” Gyeonghwan said taking a seat on Hyojung’s chair. Junggyun was somewhat surprised by Gyeonghwan’s sudden appearance.  Why did Gyeonghwan leave that mysterious note and then show up at the office so late?

  
On the other desk Gyeonghwan was deep into thought. Those 5 minutes Junggyun had asked for were being used to try and think of a way to explain what he was doing there. What was he doing? Not even Gyeonghwan was too sure. What was he going to say?

Junggyun seemed like he could fall asleep anytime soon. He should be home, resting, not here working. And on top of it all, it was Monday. That meant a week of work was just starting and Junggyun was already this tired.

“Have you had dinner?” Gyeonghwan asked preoccupied.

“Uh… no. I haven’t eaten anything since lunch.” Junggyun confessed.

“You can’t do that! It’s too unhealthy. You need energy to work. No wonder you’re so tired.” Gyeonghwan scolded.  “Here. Eat this.” He ordered, offering his dinner. Of course Junggyun didn’t know or he wouldn’t have accepted it. There was no point in resisting any further, it was the second time today that he got scolded for how he let work affect his life.

Junggyun ate Gyeonghwan’s food like his life depended on that, which it kind of did but he didn’t want to admit it.

 

“You hate this job and still… you work like a mad man. I really don’t understand you.” Gyeonghwan stated looking concerned. When would Junggyun put himself before work?

“I - I….” Junggyun stuttered. He didn’t really have an explanation besides the wish to return his parent’s investments.

“You need to rest” Gyeonghwan insisted turning off the monitor. Now, only the light from a little desk lamp and the city lights illuminated the room.

“What did you want to talk about earlier?” Junggyun asked.

Gyeonghwan took a seat on the floor, next to the big window pane that covered an entire wall.

“I wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out or… you know… grab a coffee or something.”  Gyeonghwan confessed while staring at the skyline. Hues of orange and the sky’s dark blue painted the landscape. Millions of red and white lights flickered. Junggyun grabbed a blanket he had under his desk and sat down next to Gyeonghwan

“Hyojung brought me this blanket for times like this, when I lose track of time and fall asleep in the office. You guys worry too much.” Junggyun explained spreading the blanket over the both of them. Gyeonghwan accepted it gladly.

They sat in silence, just enjoying the view and being close enough to feel each other’s warmth. Seoul still had some cold April nights, especially in the 43rd floor. At some point their hands touched. The contact made Gyeonghwan look at Junggyun. The latter had his eyes closed. He had just fallen asleep. His head fell softly to Gyeonghwan’s shoulder and he intertwined his fingers with Junggyun’s. He himself was pretty tired too. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. To fall asleep next to his favourite customer, the one he was happy to go to work in the morning, the one he wanted to fall asleep next to for more than two years.

Good comes for those who wait. Someone used to say.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I tried something different and I would really appreciate if you left feedback in the comments. Thanks for reading.  
> playlist: http://8tracks.com/kami-s-husband/late-night-melodies


End file.
